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21.10.2014 Politics

The President Has No Business Appointing Council Of State Members – Prof. Mike Oquaye

By Daily Guide
The President Has No Business Appointing Council Of State Members – Prof. Mike Oquaye
21.10.2014 LISTEN

He, therefore recommended an immediate turn-around to the original concept and a stop to the current practice that allows the president to constitute the Council as enshrined established by Articles 89 to 92 of the 1992 Constitution.

'It's a pity we have forgotten some of these things and we should go and do a 'Sankofa' (to reach back) quickly before our things get spoilt.

'In Ghana there is no tribe or culture of which the chief chooses members of his council…In fact, they themselves are sub-chiefs or heads of lineages [who] come to the council with independent authority and for that matter they become a counter-veiling power.'

The Council of State in Ghana is a small body of prominent citizens, analogous to the Council of Elders in the traditional political system. It includes a former Chief Justice of Ghana, a former Chief of the Defence Staff and a former Inspector General of Police and the President of the National House of Chiefs. Each region of Ghana also has an elected representative.

The President of Ghana also elects eleven members. Members stay in office until the term of office of the president ends.

But Prof. Oquaye suggests a fairer representation to the Council which should include 'the owners of this country' who will be in office for a term, not more than six years.

'We can have a powerful institutional representation and those people will go there as of rights. No president appoints them. Before the president comes there, they are there over their six-year term.

'These are very, very important counter-veiling authority measures which I believe constitutionally, we have missed and we must, therefore, go back to them,' he underscored.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

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